Chapter 2 The Beast

MICAELA My eyes were red and heavy, my breath cold as ice. I sat there on my small wooden bed, legs up, cuddling tightly to my body as I struggled to stop the tears from falling off my eyes. I should be used to this. This wasn’t the first time, I should have expected this to happen. You would think someone who grew up hand in hand in death, won’t be this affected anymore when a friend or family dies. But who won’t bawl their eyes out, after losing the only member of your family you had left. Everyone I ever loved, all gone from this cruel world. I had no parents, no siblings and now Tatiana. When I found Tatiana’s dead body, I was numbed for a moment. Doing nothing, feeling nothing. I couldn’t say anything, I just stood there staring at her cold naked body laying on the floor after being raped countless time and left to die with no remorse. That had been six days ago. No matter how many times I wanted to scream my lungs out, I couldn’t. We were told to carry on with our work like nothing had happened, like a young girl no less than eighteen wasn’t brutally raped by their kind and left bleeding out with no care. The guards had taken her body, dumped it at one of their old cells, not caring to give her a befitting burial. After four days of her body rotting in the cold, dirty cell alone, it was given back to us to do as we see fit. So, the younger maids gathered around, giving her a small, simple burial. That was the day before today. Yet, I still wasn’t able to cry. Even when they laid her to the ground, there were no tears. Even when the sands were used to cover up her body, no tears. When the maids gathered around to sing a final farewell like they did for every human that has passed away, helping them into the promised land, still no tears. So, when I had woken up in the early hours of the morning, shaken within my wilts, with tears falling off my eyes in a hasty manner. I knew it had finally hit me. I was all alone in this world. Yes, there were other humans like me, but none of us were that close and had to learn from a young age to be wary of them as well. As they won’t think twice putting you under the bus if it meant getting a tiny bit of privilege from the beast or escaping any form of punishment. Drying up the tears from my eyes, I knew it was time for me to get up from the bed before the head maid gets to the kitchen. Madam Perrine was like them, A beast. You might be wondering if she was a beast, then why work as a maid with the humans It’s simple. The beasts were divided into five different ranks. Firstly, the low ranks, born from both families without a hint of nobility in their blood. They worked alongside the humans, but with a much better privilege than we humans would ever have. The average beast. They are, like the commoners, born with at least a blood from one noble parent. Then there are the upper class. Unlike the commoners, both parents are from a noble bloodline, making them have upper hands in politics and the like. Fourthly, The chosen ones. They are specially selected by whom they called the moon goddess, making them leader of their pack. They were also called alphas of a pack, having one of the highest positions in the beastiary. But they were nothing compared to the Royals. They had said to each possess a unique gift, making them special than the rest. And there was him. The stories of his infamous accomplishment spread across the world, even to the slaves, and it was anything but pleasant. He was a monster. The devil beast like his people called him. I was fortunate not to have crossed the path with him and pray it remained so. It’s true that I work as a maid in the Palace, but the Palace was divided into two separate buildings. One for the king while the other was where some royals stayed and fortunately that was where I worked. I wasn’t saying they weren’t brutal, but they were a better fit than that of the king . Snapping out of my thoughts, knowing it was better not to get lost in them. I walked over to the small bowl of water aside my bed, washing the dried tears off my face. I changed into an old, ruined maid dress. Tying my hair up into a bun, before putting on my worn out slippers. Walking out of the room, I walked through the castle corridor to the back door, leading to the kitchen, where the rest of the maids stood. Puffing out a breath when I realized I had gotten there in a matter of time before Madam Perrine. I stood in line with the other maids, as we all waited for the head maid to make her way into the kitchen. No one said a word, our breath heretic, our body too weak to even utter a word. We heard a heavy footstep, stomping the ground like always, we all stood rooted in our spot, head bow down as the head maid, Madam Perrine made her way into the kitchen. It was part of the law given to us humans, we were not allowed to look at their kind in the eyes without being given the permission too, no matter the rank they were in. “ Heads up.” The head maid ordered coldly, and we all obeyed, raising our heads up like we were being controlled. No one utter a word, it was dead silence in the kitchen, like a graveyard. I laughed inwardly at the irony of it, after all this was no different. “ There will be a routine change, starting from tomorrow. I expect you all to be here thirty minutes earlier than you usually are tomorrow or there will be repercussions.” She says sternly, with no hint of emotion bare on her face. Her eyes held nothing but hate for my kind, her height towered ours, gazing down at us like we were nothing but dirt on her shoe. To think she was in the same situation with my kind, she would have a little compassion for us, but it was all wishful thinking. “ Have I made myself cleared.” The head maid barked, purging me of my thoughts. “ Yes, madam Perrine.” We all yelled out as loud as we could, our gaze anywhere but hers. “ Good.” She said after some time. “ Now scram off you mice. Have breakfast and get to work.” She concluded, stomping off, mumbling to herself. “ I don’t know why the king won’t just finish them off, they are nothing but pieces of rats.” Were her words before she left the kitchen. When we were sure she was a safe distance away from the kitchen, I could hear the maid around release a breath of relief as they gathered in twos and threes talking about the routine change and how they dreaded it. Once a year, there was a routine change done In both sides of the Palaces. Those who are lucky, remained here, at this side of the Palace but those who weren’t fortunate enough were sent to the other side of the Palace. I heaved out a sigh, looking around the familiar but lonely kitchen. After my family died ten years ago, my dad was in charge of the stable. When the king’s favourite horse had gone missing, my dad was instantly blamed for it, even though he wasn’t on shift at that time. He was after all a mere human and an easy enough scapegoat. He was immediately take to the dungeon, where he was tortured for being careless with the King’s property. They released him weeks later, but his weak body wasn’t able to recover from the injury, and he died from it. My mother couldn’t handle the pain of losing the one she loved, even though she had me and my brother Alystair. She ended up killing herself. It hadn’t been weeks since our parents were both laid to rest when my brother Alystair was deployed to the east side of the world. Only for me to receive news about him being dead months later. That had been a dreadful year for me, knowing I was the only one of my family left alive. I admit, I had thought of many ways to end my life. To put an end to whatever misery in this world, then I would be reunited with my family. Tatiana was the one who helped me, save me and did everything possible to make me not feel alone. We became the best of friends, keeping each other company, and she was gone too, leaving me alone, all over again.